Saturday 10th August

Visibility was hampered today by a persistent sea fog – only those living on the far western coasts of Britain can know the glumness of knowing the rest of the country is warm and sunny, while we have a southerly airflow basically giving us the Bay of Biscay in condensed form! The wildlife is all still there but it makes it harder to find of course. This morning we found two groups of common dolphins in the expected areas, along with more of the exotic shearwaters – greats, Cory’s and sootys – as well as gannets, fulmars and Manxes. There were seven seals hauled out on the island. The first trip this afternoon the fog got denser in the bay – it was like being in a warm cloud. Two of the seals were having a proper moany disagreement on the island, and slapping each other with their flippers. We found a flock consisting purely of great shearwaters, and also saw storm petrels flitting around in the mist. During the final trip, it lifted momentarily before coming back in, but this time we were able to find some common dolphins again, as well as the seals and shearwaters.